Former Heroes
by Guaxini
Summary: Set 14 years ago a group of people are beginning to discover that they have abilities, while others are just learning to adapt to their new lives with abilities. There lives change, though, when they realize that others are trying to capture them
1. Chapter 1

**1995**

**_Rafael de Souza – Sao Paulo, Brazil_**

Rafael was sitting in his last class of the day, English. He was lost in his thoughts, paying no attention to the teacher. This wasn't all that uncommon for him. It's not that he was a bad student, or disliked English. It was for the opposite reason actually. Rafael was very smart for a 13 year old and knew English fairly fluently. The class just wasn't stimulating enough for his mind. He was quite different than most other Brazilian boys his age that he knew. Not just because he knew English and did so well in school, but his family was rich, though they were generous with their money.

That's actually what Rafael was thinking about during his English class, trying to figure out how his family became so wealthy. From what he knew, his father, José, grew up on a farm in Rio Grande do Norte. His family was very poor and couldn't even afford to send him to school. When he was 17 he moved to São Paulo like many other northeasterners, hoping to become rich in the metropolitan capitol of South America. However, unlike most other illiterate northeasterners that migrated to Sao Paulo, he did become rich. He learned to read, learned how to speak English, and met Rafael's mother, Teresinha. Rafael was never able to understand how his father was able to make such a turnaround in life. From all his studies of Brazilian Politics, History, Anthropology, etc.. the Brazilian System didn't allow the poor to work their way up. The rich kept them oppressed. Though he'd asked more than once, his father never really gave him a straight forward answer to how he had managed this.

"Rafael, presta atenção, garoto." Rafael was pulled away from his thoughts by Professor da Silva telling him to pay attention. "Te perguntei, 'Whatch timey is itch?'" I asked you, 'What time is it?'

"Sorry Professor, it's five o'clock, time for class to get out." He knew that the professor would be a little annoyed at being told it was time for class to be over, but he just wanted to leave. That's what bugged Rafael the most about English. It seems like all they ever learned was to say silly things like, "What time is it?", "What's your name?", "The book is on the table", and such.

The professor excused the students and they started filing out of the classroom. Rafael started walking home from school as usual. However, when he turned off of the street of the school he was grabbed by a couple of guys that looked like they were in their twenties. They threw him into the back of a beat up Volkswagen Bug, and blindfolded him and drove off.

**_Daniel Zimmerman –Minneapolis, Minnesota_**

Daniel's cousin, Jake, his wife and little one year old baby, Levi, were visiting Daniel's parents' house. It was probably the last time he'd get a chance to be with his cousin, Jake, and younger brothers, Seth and Luke, before he went off to college. Luke had just bought his first guitar, too. So they sat around the basement playing some Cat Stevens songs. That's about all Luke seemed interested in learning at the time. It was fun to sit around and play music with them. Daniel had always enjoyed playing with Jake; however, lately he just hadn't been nearly as interested in playing guitar as he used to be.

What he really felt like doing right now was skateboarding. Daniel had always enjoyed skateboarding, but in the past year it had become a real passion of his. He didn't like to skateboard with other people though, mostly just by himself. After an hour or so of playing music with them, Daniel told his brothers and cousin that he was going to go skateboard for a little while.

Daniel grabbed his skateboard and started riding around. There were some places that he almost always went to, places that seemed special to him, and places he wouldn't see again for a long time. They were places that didn't really interest the few other skaters he knew. He liked hills and he liked going fast. He started going down one hill that he had a pretty strong emotional connection to. He was going pretty fast and started doing a power slide, sliding sideways down the hill for about 30 feet until he came to a near stop at the bottom and continued riding. As he continued rolling along he reflected on how this particular hill became so important to him.

It was just a little less than a year before that he was riding his skateboard home from school. He was coming down a hill about a block ahead of where he was now. He was going as fast as he could, so that his momentum would take him as far up the hill he had just power slid down as possible. However, at the bottom of the hill he hit a little pebble. He went flying forward, expecting some painful road rash. He hit the ground and went sliding forward as if he were on a slip and slide. He just kept sliding with out slowing down all the way to the hill. And as he slid past a couple other people who were walking on the street, he noticed them slip and fall on their butts. He started sliding up the hill, but was slowing down now. He came to a stop about 20 feet up the hill, and stood up. He looked at his hands, and they didn't have a scratch on them. He could feel that his palms and knees were going to get bruised from the fall, but didn't feel any burning sensation that accompanies road rash.

He looked back and saw his skateboard at the bottom of the hill on the other side of the block. He took a step forward, intending to go get his skateboard, when he slipped and fell on his butt. He slid back down the hill, and nearly all the way back to the other hill where his skateboard was before he stopped sliding. Forgetting about his skateboard for a minute he just sat there on the ground confused, wondering what was going on. He put moved his hand back about 2 inches and felt the ground, and noticed that it was completely smooth, where as the ground he was sitting on was rough as asphalt should be.

As he was feeling the difference between the two sections he had the impression that he had somehow done this. Why else would it have become smooth right where he fell, and why would those people have slipped as he passed him, and not at the beginning of the apparently frictionless section of ground?

Daniel concentrated, and could somehow feel that exactly where the frictionless ground ended on the hill. Somehow he was able to feel the difference and with concentration change it back to the same roughness as the rest of the asphalt. This became apparent, because as he concentrated in doing this, the other people that had been sliding slowly on their butts, came to a stop.

**_David Jacobs –Salt Lake City, UT_**

David was just getting out of his last class of the day, Phys 5110 Introduction to Nuclear and Particle Phyiscs. Even though he had just started going to the University of Utah the beginning of the previous summer, he would already have a bachelor's degree in Physics in December. He thought that the company he worked for would be pretty happy about that. They didn't even want him to go to college, but he convinced them that with a better understanding of physics he would be a greater asset to the company, and that because of all his advanced placement classes in high school he would be able to get a degree in a year and a half. They only agreed when he told them he would only take Tuesday and Thursday classes, that way he would be available for extended periods like Friday through Monday.

David was glad that class was out. He was looking forward to going on a hike up in Big Cottonwood Canyon. However, just as he was getting ready to go, his cell phone rang. "Dang it!" he said. There weren't many people that called him on this phone, and so he already knew who it was. "They said they wouldn't bother me on Tuesdays."

With that he answered the phone, "Hello.."


	2. Chapter 2

**_James Ashton_ _–Uinta Mountains, Utah_**

James was scaling the wall of a cliff with a 200 foot drop. He was climbing up the side of the mountain with great ease, though he had no climbing gear, no shoes and no shirt. In fact all he had on was a pair of shorts and a waste pack with a couple water bottles, a knife, some flint, steel and wool, and a thick beard that obviously hadn't been shaved for months.

James had lived up in the Uintas for nearly two years. Most people might find it odd, but James felt more comfortable and safer living up in the mountains by himself, climbing cliffs with no gear, than he did living in a big city like New York where he grew up.

Within only a couple minutes James had reached the top of the cliff. He pulled himself up and stood up looking back down the cliff he had just climbed. After about a minute he found what he was looking for, a stream of water. Normally, he didn't have to search out for water streams; he had lived in the mountains long enough and set up a home of sorts, knowing where water could be found. However, James was looking for a new place to live. He no longer felt safe living in what he had considered "home" for the past year, and so had decided to move on, looking for a new "home" only three days earlier.

**_Rafael de Souza – S__ão Paulo, Brazil_**

Rafael had been sitting on an uncomfortable bed with a thin mattress for hours. It was already beginning to get dark outside and started to rain pretty hard. The kidnapper in the room that was watching over him hadn't said a word the whole time, not even when the power went out because of the storm. It was pitch black, except for periodically when a flash of lightning offered a brief glimpse of the room. But soon even the lightning stopped and the only sound to be heard was the light patter of the rain outside. Rafael strained his eyes trying to make out anything. After a minute or so things began to come into focus.

Rafael could see the kidnapper on the other side of the room staring at the bed he was sitting on. However, Rafael noticed he wasn't looking directly at him, just in the general direction. Slowly, Rafael began to climb out of the bed, as quietly as possible, while still watching the kidnapper. The kidnapper's eyes didn't follow his movement; they just continued staring at the bed.

Carefully, Rafael made his way over towards the door. He started opening the door, but it creaked. "Quem tá aí?" Who is that? the kidnapper shouted, standing up and walking towards the bed.

**_Mark Smith –Sandy, Utah_**

Mark was driving his 1990 4runner north on I-15, about 20 minutes away from Salt Lake City. He pulled out his cell phone and began dialing David's number. He knew David would be upset at first, but that he would calm down once he realized they were going up in the mountains. "Hello," David answered, not sounding very happy.

"Hey Dave," Mark replied. "We've got an assignment up your way."

"I thought I wasn't supposed to get any assignments on Tuesdays," David cut in. Mark could tell he was upset, but that he had already resigned himself to help out.

"Don't be too upset, I think you'll enjoy this job," Mark said a little too cheerfully for David's mood. "We're going to be going up into the mountains, the Uintas to be precise."

"Ok, Ok. Just don't get too used to asking me for help on my days off. When will you be here."

Mark laughed, hearing in David's tone that he was actually excited to be working this day. "I'll be there in about 15 minutes."

"What's the job, another bag and tag? In the Uintas?"

"Yep. It's a guy we tried bagging a couple years ago in New York. We lost him, though and he's been off the grid since then. He's a wall climber, and reappeared just three days ago. Saved the life of a hiker who had fallen down into a canyon."

**_Alex Johnson –Uinta Mountains, Utah_**

Alex got out of his SUV and closed the door. He opened the back door and grabbed his hiking boots, a backpack full of climbing gear, binoculars, a few small weapons, and a sniper rifle. He attached the rifle onto his backpack, put his boots and backpack on, shut the door, and started walking towards the location the news had reported a hiker's life had been saved three days prior.


	3. Chapter 3

_**David Jacobs –Salt Lake City, Utah**_

David finished packing his gear and set his backpacking pack by the front door and waited in the living room for Mark to show up. He knew that it was unlikely they would find this wall climber before the end of the night. He just hoped that it wasn't going to make him miss school on Thursday.

A few minutes later a 6-foot tall white man, with thinning red hair and a red moustache pulled into the driveway in a black 4runner. David grabbed his pack and threw it in the back of the car before climbing in the passenger seat.

_**James Ashton –Uinta Mountains, Utah**_

James was sitting on a rock close to the stream, whittling a tree branch, while the water he had just boiled was cooling in the stream. He was sharpening the branch into a spear in hopes to catch a fish for dinner before it got to dark. A few minutes later he had a fairly sharp spear and walked out into the shallow stream with it.

About 20 minutes later James finally caught his first fish, and after about 45 minutes had caught three. After catching the third fish he went over to the rock where he had left the other two, took them all over to the stream where he gutted and cleaned them. James went back to his rock where he used his flint and steel to start a fire with a few small branches, getting ready to cook his dinner.

_**Rafael de Souza –S**__**ão Paulo, Brazil**_

"Quem tá aí?" Who's is that? the kidnapper shouted, standing up and walking towards the bed. Rafael quickly opened the door, making a loud squeak. However, rather than run out the door, he stayed in the room and slid over to the side of the door as the kidnapper ran past him and out into the hallway.

Rafael went over to the other side of the room, opened the window, and climbed out. He began running down the street in the rain as fast as he could. He kept running turning down random streets trying to put as much distance between himself and the kidnappers as possible. Finally, after about half an hour of running, he came to a stop at a park, realizing that his clothes were barely damp and he wasn't at all out of breath. He found that odd, but was too scared to think too much about it at the time.

He found a payphone in the park and tried calling home, but the phone was dead. In fact, as Rafael looked around, he noticed that there wasn't a single street light on, nor were there any lights on in any of the houses nearby. He realized that the power must still be out. Rafael had no idea where he was, so he climbed up a tree in the park and looked at a house across the street. He looked into the window and strained his eyes trying to see an alarm clock or VCR or something that would start flashing as soon as the power was back on.

Incredibly, though he was at least 50 feet from the house and everything was dark, he was able to make out a VCR. So Rafael sat in the tree in the rain staring at the VCR, waiting for the power to come back on.

_**Alex Johnson-Uinta Mountains, Utah**_

Finally, Alex reached the cliff where the hiker had been rescued three days earlier. Alex knew that that had been the easy part. He doubted the wall climber would stick around after having saved that hiker's life and knew that he was going to have to find a trail to follow. After examining the area for a few minutes he determined the wall climber had climbed back down the wall into the canyon.

Alex set his bag on the ground and took the rifle off. He opened up his bag and pulled out his harness, and belay device, carabineers, and other rock climbing gear; preparing to repel down into the canyon.

_**Mark Smith –Uinta Mountains, Utah**_

Mark and David finally made it as far as they could in the 4runner, but saw that they weren't the only ones going up this trail that night. There was another SUV parked up there and Mark had a feeling he knew who it belonged to. "I don't think we're the only ones tracking Ashton tonight," Mark told David.

"How do you know this SUV belongs to another person tracking the wall climber?" David asked, not questioning whether or not this other person was really searching for the wall climber, but wondering how Mark could tell. He'd known Mark long enough to realize that he must have a good reason for believing so.

Reaching underneath the tailgate Mark pulled out a knife and said, "Because the driver of this SUV is a man named Alex Johnson."

Looking at the knife in Mark's hand, David asked, "So what does this mean?"

"It means that the first part of our search is going to be faster and easier, because we can follow his tracks, but that once we've caught up with him things are going to be a lot harder. He doesn't want to bag and tag James Ashton, he wants to kill him. We've got to be quicker, and we've got to try to make sure he doesn't see us."

With that said the two of them began running up the mountain quicker and with more ease than seemed should be possible on a slope as steep as they were climbing.


	4. Chapter 4

_**Alex Johnson –Uinta Mountains, Utah**_

Alex was really starting to hate this wall climber. He had just climbed down his third cliff of the evening and followed the wall climber's trail across the little valley only to realize that once again he just had to climb up another cliff on the other side. It had already been dark for at least an hour and so Alex decided to set up camp for the night at the bottom of this cliff that he was going to have to climb in the morning.

_**Mark Smith and David Jacobs –Uinta Mountains, Utah**_

__Mark and David continued running up the mountain following Alex's trail. They had been going for around an hour and a half, an hour of which had been in the dark. It was going a little quicker because David had been up there before, and knew exactly where the hiker had been rescued, but even so it was a little slower than it might have been had it not been dark. David knew that they were getting close to the cliff that the hiker had fallen down, when suddenly Mark and David both ran straight off the cliff.

_**Rafael de Souza –S**__**ão Paulo, Brazil**_

Rafael had been sitting in the tree for what felt like hours, waiting for the power to come back on. He just sat there, unmoving and unblinking, staring at that VCRs, until finally the streetlights lit up and the VCR started flashing 12:00. Strangely, after hours of not blinking, Rafael's eyes weren't even dried out in the slightest, nor did he feel wet at all, though a light rain had continued the entire time.

Rafael climbed down the tree and walked over to the payphone where he made a collect call to his parents' house. His dad answered the phone, sounding tired, but clearly awake and alert. Upon realizing that it was his son on the phone José said, "Meu filho, tu tá bem? Eu estava tão preocupado. O que aconteceu? Onde está?" My son, are you ok? I was so worried. What happened? Where are you?

"Eu tô bem, pai. Me sequestraram, mas rapei fora. Eles não saibam onde eu estou, já faz um bom tempo, tenho esperado a força voltar pra te ligar." I'm OK, dad. I was kidnapped, but got away. They haven't known where I am for awhile now, I've been waiting for the power to come back on so I could call you.

"Tu sabe onde está," Do you know where you are? José asked, glad that his son was OK.

Rafael ran over to the corner of the street and looked at the sign that said Rua Duque de Caxias. He ran back to the payphone and told his dad, but this didn't help his dad much, there must be at least 50 streets named Duque de Caxias in São Paulo. "Rafael, qual é o número da orelhão?" Rafael, what's the number on the payphone? Rafael looked at the payphone and read the number to his dad. "Tá bom, fica aí meu filho e vou estar aí logo." OK, stay there son and I'll be there soon.

About 20 minutes went by before a police car came by. A police officer got out and started calling Rafael's name. Rafael climbed down the tree he was once again hiding in while waiting for his father. "Seu pai está chegando. Vem esperar no carro pra não ficar na chuva." Your father's on his way. Come wait in the car to get out of the rain.

Rafael climbed in the police car and waited another 5 minutes before he saw his father's car pull up right behind them. Rafael jumped out of the police car and ran over to his father before he was even able to get out of the car. José gave him a hug, holding him close and said, "Tu deve ter pegado febre da chuva, tá quentinho." You must have caught a fever from the rain, you're burning up. Rafael looked at his father oddly and looked back down at himself. He didn't feel like he had a fever, he felt just fine.

Half an hour later Rafael and his father were walking into the front door of their very large house. José turned the lights on and Rafael flinched in pain from the sudden brightness. Before his eyes even had time to adjust to the bright light he was being smothered by hugs from his mother, two younger sisters, and younger brother.

Though Rafael was glad to see his family he was tired and had a headache from the bright light, so he went upstairs to his bedroom. Before climbing into bed, Rafael went to the bathroom and looked at himself in the mirror. He noticed that his pupils were very small and narrow, barely a slit, but that as he looked at them they dilated back to their normal shape and size, and the light didn't seem to hurt his eyes as much.

Rafael climbed into bed, no longer thinking about the kidnapping, but wondering what was happening with his body. Wondering how he was able to see in the dark so well, and how he saw that VCR from across the street, and why his body was so warm when his dad found him, and why he barely even got wet while in the rain for hours. He drifted off into strange dreams while pondering over these things.

_**Melissa Dalton –Los Angeles, California**_

Melissa was in Elysian Park running. She always liked to go running in the morning while it was still cool outside and there weren't many people out yet. She liked the peace of the early morning and the time to think about things while running before she had to start her day. As she was running around the pond a man in a black hoodie jumped out in front of her and tackled her. He picked her up and started to drag her over towards the trees. She kicked and struggled to get free, but he was much larger and stronger than her and just continued to pull her into the park forest where nobody would see them.


	5. Chapter 5

_**James Ashton –Uinta Mountains, Utah**_

James had a found a little cave the night before that seemed like it would make a nice little home for him. He figured that he was far enough away from where he had saved the hiker that he shouldn't have any need to worry about anybody finding him.

A few days before saving that hiker, James had broken his hunting bow and for the past week had been eating only fish. Now that he had found a new 'home,' James decided that it was time he made a new bow and some arrows. After about half an hour he found a good piece of oak to make a bow out of. He'd already gathered plenty of wood that he could carve arrows out of while he was searching for the wood for his bow.

James took the wood he had gathered back to his cave and began carving a new bow. The oak that he had found already had a natural curve to it, so it only took James about an hour to get the bow carved out, though it was still a bit crude. He reached into his waist pack and grabbed one of the strings that he had made out of hickory bark months ago. He measured out a length just over half the length of his bow and cut the string. He tied a loop at each end of the string and spent about 20 minutes trying to string his bow before he finally got it. By this time he was starting to fill pretty hungry, so he started carving some arrows so he could go hunting.

_**Alex Johnson –Uinta Mountains, Utah**_

Alex was moving much faster than he had been the day before. He was furious. Once he'd climbed that cliff wall and reached the top he noticed that there were now two more sets of footprints. He was determined to find the wall climber before the Primatech Agents did. But if he didn't he knew they'd have to come back his way and he'd be ready for them.

_**Melissa Dalton –Los Angeles, California**_

Melissa continued kicking and struggling to get away as this man dragged her into the park forest. He had her mouth covered so that she couldn't scream. She bit his hand and started to scream, but the man squeezed around her stomach very tightly, pushing all the air out of her and tossed her to the ground. He put duct tape over her mouth, picked her bag up and started dragging her again. Melissa was crying, and wishing that her father were there to protect her. All of a sudden Melissa disappeared and the man that had been dragging her fell over landing on his back. He got back and looked around but couldn't find Melissa anywhere.

_**Daniel Zimmerman –Minneapolis, Minnesota**_

"Daniel, hurry up! You're gonna miss your plane!" Daniel's mom shouted into the house. Daniel came running out the door with a suitcase and tossed it into the back of the car. It was strange, Daniel had always wanted to get out of Minneapolis, to go away somewhere, be on his own. But now that that time had come he was feeling a little reluctant to go. A year ago he wasn't even planning to go to college, and now here he was moving to another state to do just that. He had always figured he would go into music like his uncle Bob, and cousin Jake. And he knew that with his dad's connection there in Minneapolis it wouldn't be too hard for him to make a career out of it. However, now he thought that maybe studying a bit of science at a university might help him understand a little bit more about how he was able to manipulate friction. Now he was on his way to catch a plane to Salt Lake City to start up school at the University of Utah in three weeks.

Daniel was asking himself why he had decided to go to the Utah of all places. He didn't know much about Utah except that just about everybody there was Mormon. And from what he'd heard about Mormons, they were strange people. The main reason he had decided to go there was because it was away from home, was cheap, and was a safe place where his mom wouldn't be worrying too much about him. He was starting to wonder if it was really worth it though.

_**Mark Smith and David Jacobs –Uinta Mountains, Utah**_

Mark and David had passed Alex during the night while he was sleeping at the bottom of the cliff. They had continued following the wall climber's trail by the little light that they had for another hour before setting up camp themselves. They made sure to get up at the first light so that Alex didn't find them while they were still sleeping, and to make sure that they had a good head start. They had already been going for a couple hours and could tell that they were getting close. They came across the stream where James had gone fishing the night before and could tell by the ashes from the cooking fire that they weren't far behind. Not to long after they found his cave, and only a few minutes after they saw him climbing up the side of a mountain with a bow on his back.


	6. Chapter 6

_**Alex Johnson –Uinta Mountains, Utah**_

Alex came across the ashes of the fire James had cooked his fish on the night before. He could tell that he was close to finding the wall climber, but that, more than likely, the Primatech agents were going to find him first. Alex decided to climb up a tree and take a look around with his binoculars to see if he couldn't find the wall climber nearby. After climbing to the top of the tallest tree nearby he pulled out his binoculars and looked around at all the cliff walls close by. There he was, about 900-950 meters away climbing a cliff with a bow on his back. He was probably about 50 feet up the cliff, 15 feet higher up than Alex was in the tree.

Alex put his binoculars back in his pack and began assembling his sniper rifle. He found a comfortable sitting position with a branch that would stabilize the rifle while he shot it. The wall climber was now another 30 feet higher in the short time it had taken Alex to assemble his rifle. He looked through the scope and rotated the gun slightly getting the wall climber in his crosshair. Right as he got the wall climber in his crosshair, though; James fell off the wall with a tranquilizer dart in his left shoulder blade. Alex quickly dropped the gun down slightly, pulling the trigger hoping to hit him before he was below the tree level.

The shot was too low, though. Strangely, the wall climber was falling much slower than he should have been. Alex tried to compensate for the oddly slow velocity that the wall climber was falling at and take another shot, but he was below the tree level and out of site before he had a chance to do so.

_**Mark Smith and David Jacobs –Uinta Mountains, Utah**_

"That was close," Mark said. "Alex can't be more than a kilometer behind us, we need to hurry." David slung the wall climber over his shoulder and started going back the way they had come. "No, we can't go back that way," Mark shouted. "Either Alex will be coming towards us, watching for us; or he'll be setting up some trap, waiting for us with his sniper rifle. We have to take a more roundabout way and stay covered by the trees."

"He'll be tracking us, right?" David asked. "And he's good at it, too?"

"Very good at it," Mark answered.

"Well then, let's take a little swim in the river. It will be much harder for him to track us then." They ran over to the river, but before they got in, the flow of the river stopped, and then somehow it began to flow upstream. They jumped into the river, David still holding onto James, keeping his head above the water.

After about two minutes, they climbed out of the water, and once again the flow stopped and then began running back downstream. They were now much closer to Alex than he would have suspected, but not wanting to take any chances, they ran away from the river on the opposite bank then Alex should have been on had he been following their trail. They made it to a canyon that had about a twenty foot gap from one side to the other; the other side being about four feet higher. With no hesitation they leaped the twenty feet across and four feet up. After making to the other side of this canyon they turned right, and began running uphill again, back towards their car.

_**Melissa Dalton –Anaheim, California**_

Melissa fell forward onto her hands and knees, still struggling to get out of the grasp of a man that was no longer holding her. Robert Dalton heard a thud in living room and got out of bed to see what was going on. He walked into the living room to find his daughter on her hands and knees, with duct tape over her mouth and tears streaming down her cheeks. He ran over to the door to lock it and noticed that Melissa must have already done so when she came in hiding from whoever had done this to her. Robert knelt down beside his daughter and pulled the duct tape off her mouth and held her in his arms comforting her, while listening carefully for someone to try and break in.

After a few minutes Melissa was able to calm down a bit and explain to her father what had happened. "I was running around the pond in Elysian Park when a big man grabbed me and started dragging me into the trees," she sobbed. "I kicked and squirmed and tried to get free, but he was too strong, and I couldn't even scream for help because he was covering my mouth. I bit his hand and tried to scream, but he squeezed all the air out of me and threw me on the ground and put the duct tape on my mouth. I tried to get away but he was just too strong. I was so scared and just wanted to get away. I wished so much that you were there to protect me, and then…" she continued sobbing. "Then… Somehow… I don't understand, but somehow… It doesn't make sense, but I was just here. The man was gone, the park was gone, everything disappeared for a split second, as if I'd passed out, but when I came to, I was laying on the floor here."

"Shh…" Robert whispered. "Everything's going to be okay. I'm here now." While he was saying this, comforting his daughter, Robert was thinking about what she had just told him. He had to admit he was a little surprised by what she had just told him. Not very surprised, but a little bit still the same. He had been waiting his whole life and wondering if she would be like him, if she would manifest an ability. She loved running, just like him, so he had always thought she would; but had expected, with good reason, that she would be the same as him.


	7. Chapter 7

_**James Ashton –Uinta Mountains, Utah**_

James began to stir and upon regaining consciousness realized that he was hanging over the shoulder of a man a few years younger than him who had dark brown hair that came down to his shoulders. He was obviously in pretty good shape to be running while carrying James, who probably weighed close to the same as him, on his shoulder. Running along his side was a man with thinning red hair and a moustache. Seeing this man he became fully alert immediately, and pushed himself away from the guy who was holding him, falling onto the ground.

This was one of the men who had been chasing him, who had nearly captured him in New York two years earlier. He scrambled to his feet and began to run away from them. "Wait!" the older man with the moustache called. "We're not going to hurt you; we're trying to save your life."

He didn't believe what this man was saying. He quickly climbed up a tall tree and waited for them to start following him. Once they began climbing up the tree he jumped out of it and landed on the side of another tree. Surprisingly, they followed suit, and didn't seem to have much trouble doing so. He quickly climbed higher and jumped into another tree and they continued following him, but he was getting farther ahead of them with this tactic. He began jumping to yet another tree, but must have misjudged the distance. He was only about five feet from the ground before he caught hold of this tree.

James jumped down to the ground and started running away again. Even though the other two were at least 15 feet up in a tree they didn't bother climbing down, but jumped straight down as well. Next thing James knew he must have slipped and was tumbling backwards towards the two, who were just waiting with their backs pressed up against the tree they had just jumped down from. Before he was able to get back on his feet both of them were holding him.

"We don't have time for this James," the younger one said. "There is a man named Alex who is trying to kill you, and if he finds us will kill us, too. We're trying to help you."

"You're crazy. I don't know anyone named Alex. Why would he be trying to kill me, I haven't done anything."

"He wants to kill you because you're different," the man with the moustache said. "He wants to kill you simply because you have an ability. He'd try to kill David, too, if he knew about him," he continued, pointing at the younger one.

"You… You have an ability, too?" James asked looking at David in shock.

"How do you think we caught you," he said with a laugh. "Did you think you just slipped and tumbled all the way back to us? You're the least likely person I know of that would slip, especially with your shoes off," he said looking down at James' feet.

"You mean… there's really somebody trying to kill me?" James asked worriedly, looking around.

"Yeah, and we've got to hurry before he finds us," David replied. "We've got to get back to our car on the trailhead of the Uinta Highline Trail as quick as possible," he continued, letting go of James and standing up. The man with the moustache also let go of him and the two of them started running back the direction they had been going before. David turned his head around and called, "Hurry, let's go!"

"Wait!" James called. "I know where we are and I know the quickest way back there and you're going to far west."

They both stopped and turned around to face him. "You lead the way," the man with the moustache said with a grin, ushering James in front of them. They ran for about 15 minutes, following James before he stopped at another canyon.

"We have to get to the other side of the canyon," James explained. "I can climb down the cliff and back up the other side in a flash, but you guys don't have any climbing gear."

"I guess you still haven't realized what my ability is," David laughed.

_**Alex Johnson –Uinta Mountains, Utah**_

After waiting for the Primatech agents to carry the wall climber back for 20 minutes Alex realized that they must have taken a different way back, or were waiting for him to come to them. Cautiously, he made his way to where the wall climber had fallen, looking for a trap. He found a broken bow at the bottom of the cliff and saw two sets of footprints leading over to the river.

He knew it would be useless to try and find their trail again, because he had no idea how far down the river they might have gotten out. Yet if they had gone down stream they would still have to make their way back up if they wanted to make their way around him and make it back to the trailhead. He still had hope of making it back before them if he hurried. With that he turned around and ran back the way he had come.

_**Rafael de Souza –S**__**ão Paulo, Brazil**_

The doorbell rang and Rafael went to get it. He opened the door and let the Indian man in. "Pai, Dr. Suresh está aquí." ^Dad, Dr. Suresh is here,^ he called. His dad came hurrying down the steps and invited Dr. Suresh to sit on a sofa in the living room.

"I'm so glad you could come so quickly, Chandra," José said, sitting in a chair opposite Dr. Suresh.

"Of course I came," Chandra answered. "I couldn't refuse the invitation of one of the few people that believes in my research and has done so much to fund it. Besides, you did pay for my plane and I do love our engaging discussions."

Dr. Suresh came over at least twice a year. José and him always talked about his research and the possibility of humans evolving to have incredible abilities like flight and telepathy. Rafael usually enjoyed listening; it reminded him of X-men characters from the comic books he sometimes read. Today, however, José asked Rafael to go do some chores, rather than letting him do them later like he usually did when Dr. Suresh came over.

_**Mark Smith, David Jacobs, and James Ashton –Uinta Mountains, Utah**_

After a couple exhausting hours the three had finally made it to the trailhead. Mark and David quickly climbed in the 4runner and motioned for James to climb in, too. However, James noticed that there was only one other vehicle in the lot and he quickly pulled out his knife and slashed the tires before climbing in the car.

Mark started driving down the mountain and James asked, "Can you just let me out a couple miles down, I'm sure he won't be able to find me there."

David felt a sharp prick in his leg. He heard Mark saying, "I'm sorry, James, but we have other plans," as everything went black. "I'll drop you off at home so you don't miss your classes tomorrow," Mark told David. "And I'll take James back to the facility in Moab. I'm sure all the tests will be done and he'll be ready to be released by Sunday, Monday at the latest. I'll let you take him back up to where he fell and make sure he's okay."

"What about Alex, though?" David asked with concern.

"I doubt he'll expect us to bring James back to the place where he was nearly killed. He'll likely expect us to recruit James, or release him in some other remote location."


	8. Chapter 8

_Sorry it's taken so long to update. I'm done with finals now and should have more time to work on this. Hope to get a lot written before I go to South America next month_

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* * *

  
_

_**James Ashton –Primatech in Moab, Utah**_

James woke up lying on his back on a hard table with his arms, legs and chest strapped down. He saw a man with horned rim glasses talking to Mark, the man with the moustache. "So you finally caught your Spiderman," he said.

"Yeah, we caught him. Saved his life actually."

"Alex?" the man in the horned rim glasses asked.

"Yeah, had we been a second later he'd have been dead. He was climbing up a cliff and Alex sniped at him less than a second after we tranqued him."

"Something's got to be done about Alex," the man in the horned rim glasses replied. "Since he left the company he's already killed twelve of them and two of us."

"Yeah, and those two of us happened the last time we tried to do something about him," Mark replied.

"Does he already have the tracking isotope in him?" the man in the horned rim glasses asked.

"Isotope?" James said worriedly. "You injected me with some kind of isotope? Who are you people?" he yelled while struggling against the straps.

"Calm down James," Mark said. "Yes we injected you with an isotope. We track special people like you, like others track endangered species. It's for your protection actually."

"How does you tracking me protect me?" he asked angrily. "Why am I strapped down? Let me go."

"Some special people like you are dangerous, and by tracking them we can stop them if they become a threat to others. Either to people like you or to normal people. Some people, like Alex, feel threatened by people like you, and so by tracking you we know where you are and can keep you safe from people like him. And don't worry, we will let you go. Will take you right back to where we left you."

"Where you left me? But that psycho will kill me. You can't leave me there."

"He won't expect us to take you back there after he already tried to kill you there. You'll be fine. Besides you're not even going to remember any of this."

"Well, I'd better be going," the man in the horned rim glasses told Mark. "Claude and I have an assignment in Los Angeles." With that the two men turned around and started to walk a way. At the same time a black teenage boy with a gold necklace started walking towards him out of the dark corner he had been standing in.

_**Daniel Zimmerman –Salt Lake City, Utah**_

Daniel had already realized that he wasn't going to regret coming to the University of Utah. Even if his classes sucked he was going to enjoy the skateboarding. He lived in the foothills of mountains. The campus was one big skate run for him. Sure going back to the dorms took a bit of time, but the thrill of riding his skateboard 40 mph down campus was worth it. It was the end of summer semester, and so there was hardly even anybody on campus anyway.

Daniel was almost done with his run. He was just starting down the stadium parking lot when a guy with long dark brown hair, reading some physics book walked out in front of him. He cursed and ditched his board, concentrating on removing the friction from the ground that he was going to land on.

Hearing Daniel swear the other guy looked up and Daniel noticed that the ground was coming at him a lot slower than he would have thought and that he had flown a lot farther than he expected when he finally hit the ground. He slid forward removing the friction in front of him as he returned the friction to the ground behind him.

The guy with the long hair ran after him apologizing for not paying attention. He caught up to Daniel and asked him if he was okay. Looking down at his arms Daniel said, "Yeah." And looking behind him he added, "That was weird, it was like I fell slower than I should have and didn't even get scratched up."

"Lucky you," the other guy said. "Not so lucky for your skateboard, though," he added looking up at the broken skateboard that somebody had run over. "I'm so sorry. I'll buy you a new one. I should have been paying more attention. I was just studying for my last final tomorrow."

"It's okay," Daniel said. "I'm just glad it wasn't worse than it was. Besides, I probably should have been more aware of the people around me since I was the one going so fast." Looking down at the other guy's book he said, "Physics? Cool, I'm going to be taking physics when the next semester starts up. But I don't think I'll ever get along as far as Nuclear and Particle Physics."

"Not unless you major in physics," the other guy said. "What physics class are you taking?" he asked.

"The first one, 2010," he answered. "I'm not too good with math and science and that kind of stuff, but wanted to learn more about physics."

"Well, if you need any help you can just ask me. It comes along pretty easy for me, especially that beginning stuff," he laughed. "I'm David," he said, holding out his hand.

"Daniel," he replied shaking his hand. "I'll probably take you up on that. Do you live on campus, too?"

"No, but I live pretty close."

"Oh, I guess that explains why I haven't seen you yet. Well, not really, I guess. I've only been here for a few days," Daniel laughed.

"Well, if you want someone to show you around the city, I've lived here my whole life. I haven't ever really gotten into skateboarding, but just about anything else outdoors I know about. Hiking, camping, climbing, swimming, boating, etc…"

"Cool," Daniel replied. "Know where I can get a new skateboard?"

"Yeah," Dave laughed. "You have time to go get one now?"


	9. Chapter 9

_**Robert Dalton –Los Angeles, California**_

Robert was in Los Angeles on the top of a building with binoculars in his hands. Ever since he had found his daughter sobbing in his living room he had been worried about her. So here he was watching her as she walked to the University. She was about half a mile away from him and almost there. Once she made it on campus he would feel a lot more calm and would be able to go back to work in Anaheim. His lunch break was almost over and so he needed to be back soon.

However, just as he thought this he saw her grab her neck and fall down. He also saw a man in horned rim glasses lowering some kind of gun and running towards her. The man in the horned rim glasses only made it about ten feet, though. That was as far as he could get before Robert had reached him and rendered him unconscious quicker than the eye could see.

Robert was now huddling over his daughter when he saw what the man had shot her with. There was a tranquilizer still in her neck. He reached down and pulled it out of her neck and was about to run her back home when he felt a sharp pain in the side of his neck. As he was falling down he saw a man appear out of nowhere right in front of his eyes. And just before everything went black he heard a British voice say, "Sorry to use you as bate, Noah, but at least now we've got bo…"

_**David Jacobs –Salt Lake City, Utah**_

Mark honked out in front of David's house. David ran out the house and hopped into the passenger seat, seeing an unconscious James Ashton in the back seat. "So, done with all your finals?" Mark asked as they drove away.

"Yeah, just finished my last one about half an hour ago," David replied.

"So four more months and you'll be with us full time?" Mark asked.

"That's the way it's looking," he answered.

"I'm proud of you Dave," Mark said. "I know the Company didn't want you to go to college and that it took a lot of convincing on your part, but I'm glad you did. You're a very intelligent person, and pick things up quickly. To get a bachelor's degree in a year and a half takes dedication, especially when you've got a company like ours working you so much. And I'm impressed how well you've learned to control your ability and what you've learned to do with it."

"Thanks Mark. That means a lot to me." Looking back at James he asked, "So is he going to remember any of what's happened this past week?"

"If the Haitian did as good of a job as he usually does, the last thing he will remember is falling from the cliff."

"How did you do things before the Haitian was around?" David asked. "I mean how did you keep people from finding out about us?"

"I don't like to think about that David," Mark replied. "We had to do some things that I wasn't too proud of back then. We still do things that bother me now a days, to be honest, but it's a lot better than it used to be."

"Alright, I won't ask. But are you sure James'll be safe if we take him back to where we found him?"

"It's about the safest place we could take him to," Mark said. "I know Alex, it's the last place he would expect us to take James. Besides, if you're there when James wakes up asking him if he's okay, then he's going to want to move deeper into the mountains in hopes that nobody finds him."

"How do you know Alex?" David asked. "I've been wondering that ever since last week. The way you talk about him seems like you actually know him, not just about him."

"You're quite observant, David. It's true, I do know Alex. We used to be friends, even before I started working for the Company. The Company recruited both of us at the same time, though, in a sense we were already Company men before we ever started working for the Company. But to be honest, I think they were more interested in Alex than in me at the time."

"He used to work for the Company," David asked in shock. "He's been trained how to hunt down special people? Why did he leave, and why does he want to kill evolved human so much?"

"It's a long story, David, but we've got a few hours before we make it to our destination, so I guess I'll tell you. It's probably best you know about Alex so that you can protect yourself against him. I'm sure that sooner or later he'll come after you if he isn't stopped somehow soon."


	10. Chapter 10

_About half a year before I started working for the Company my wife, my three year old daughter and I were kidnapped by a man that I had worked with. He had always been rude to me at work, and so when he was fired for stealing from the factory he thought that I had turned him in. His life had gone downhill pretty fast after he was fired and he blamed me for it. His wife had taken their two kids and left him, he couldn't get a job, and he had become an alcoholic._

_One day I got home from work and found the house trashed, with burn marks all over the place. I found a note on the kitchen table saying that my wife and daughter were being held hostage and for me to take $3,000 to this warehouse and that if I got the police involved he'd kill them. I went to the warehouse with the money, but was hit in the back of the head with something hard when I walked in and was rendered unconscious. When I came to I was tied up across from my wife and daughter who were also tied up. Stephen, the guy who I had worked with, had an ability. His pores could exude some kind of acid. He tortured and killed my wife and daughter in front of me, saying that he wanted me to know what it was like to lose my family._

_After having killed them he began torturing me. He stuck his hand on my arm and the acid started oozing onto my arm, burning it. I struggled to get away, but he held his grip. That's how I got this scar on my arm. I heard a gun shot and Stephen fell to the floor with a bullet through his head. Alex ran over to me, poured some water on my arm, and untied me._

_Alex told me that there were others out there like Stephen, and that a similar thing had happened to him a year earlier. He had come home from work early one day and found his wife in bed with another guy. He pulled the guy off of her and threw him into the wall, and noticed that the guy looked just like him. Then in front of his eyes the guy's appearance changed. He turned into a huge black guy, and while Alex was standing there shocked by what he had just seen the man jumped out the window and got away._

_Alex called the cops and they investigated the scene and found some blood on the broken window the guy had jumped through. Forensics came through a couple days later and the police told him whose blood it was. They showed him a picture of the guy that didn't look anything like him, and definitely wasn't black. He realized the police would think he was crazy if he told them that the guy could change his appearance and might drop the case, so he told them that it was the guy._

_Later, the police told him that the guy's roommate and neighbors hadn't seen him for a few days, and that he must be in hiding. So Alex went to the address in the middle of the night and hid in a tree, waiting. In the morning a Mexican guy walked out of the house and got in his car. Alex climbed down the tree and started tailing him in his car. About a block away, he stopped at a corner where another guy that looked just like him was standing. This other guy got into the car without even opening the door, he phased through the door, David. When Alex looked back at the driver he noticed that his hair was now blond, and that it must have been the guy who had raped his wife._

_He followed them to a bank, parking in the parking lot of a grocery store close by. The two of them walked over to the side of the bank and phased through the wall. Alex called the cops from a pay phone, but saw them walk out the side of the building before the cops could get there. He hopped back in his car and stopped it in front of the entrance to the bank's parking lot before they could get out. They got out of their car and started yelling at him. He got out of his car and punched the guy who had raped his wife in the face, sending him to the ground. He managed to knock the other guy to the ground as well. He tried punching him in the face, but his hand went right through and hit the ground behind it. The two of them started kicking him and smashing his head into the ground._

_He woke up in a hospital with a broken hand and a mild concussion. The police came in to question him and told him that they had arrived at the bank seeing to guys get into his car and take off, and found him unconscious in the parking lot. They found his car abandoned about a mile away. The guys must have gotten scared when they heard the police coming, which was lucky for Alex or he might have been dead. Alex tried calling home to tell his wife what had happened, but there was no answer._

_When Alex got home he found it in blazes, with the firefighters trying to put it out. His wife died in that fire and he was sure that it had been those same two guys who had set it on fire. So he went to their house again the next morning, and waited for them to leave. He picked the lock to the front door and hid underneath a bed, with a gun in his hand. After an hour or so they came back home. One of them laid on the bed above him, while the other knelt down on the ground. He phased hand and a bag through some floorboards. Alex rolled out from under the bed and shot him first, and then shot the one laying on the bed. He pried open the floorboards and found lots of money that they had stolen and stashed._

_He took the money and used it to by weapons and other things that he used to track down people like the two who had killed his wife. He had been doing this for a year when he came across me, and I joined him in the hunt. We watched the news and read newspapers, always looking for things out of the ordinary, and that's how we found them. We had been doing this for a few months when we came across someone we thought we had already killed. We killed him again, and later found him robbing yet another store. This is when we found out about the Company. They told us that this man could replicate himself, and that we hadn't found the source yet. They offered us a job, and that's when we started working with the Company._

_Alex wasn't too happy about having to work with an evolved human. For awhile things went well, though. Alex and his partner bagged, tagged, and released some of the less dangerous people, while the more dangerous ones always ended up dead. Later, Alex discovered that some of the specials working for the Company were actually hiding and protecting some other evolved humans from being bagged and tagged. He ended up killing them, and the Company actually looked more highly upon him after that._

_But that's when things changed. Alex believed that all evolved humans were a threat. He believed that sooner or later with the power they had they would be corrupted and turn on other humans that they viewed as weaker. Alex began setting up bagging missions in a way that the person they were bagging would kill his partner and then he would kill the person himself seeing as they were obviously a threat now. But too many of his partners ended up dead, and too many of the people he was suppose to bag and tag ended up dead. The Company began to become suspicious of him. _

_But at the same time Alex decided to leave the Company. He must have known they were becoming suspicious. He hacked the Company's systems and stole a lot of their data. He's used this data to track and kill individuals that we've already released and others that we've tried to capture. Luckily, you weren't in the systems at the time or you yourself might be dead, David._

"Why hasn't the Company stopped him?" David asked.

"They've tried," Mark answered. "We've been able to convince some to relocate and go into hiding. Two agents that tried stopping him have been killed. Alex knows how the Company works. He knows a lot of the people that work for the Company and how they act. As of now, the Company thinks he's a greater danger if we go after him than if we just try to hide these people from him. We give him false leads now and again, making sure that strange occurrences get into the newspaper."


	11. Chapter 11

_**Melissa Dalton –Primatech in Odessa, Texas**_

Melissa woke up laying down on a hard table. She tried to sit up, but found that she was strapped down to the table. "Where am I?" she asked herself out loud. "What's going on?"

Just then a man in horn rimmed glasses came into view walking towards her. "You're in Texas," the man said.

"What... Texas?" Melissa said confused. "How did I get to Texas? Who are you?"

"My friend brought you here," the man replied. "Who I am doesn't matter, though. What matters is what you can do."

"What I can do? What are you talking about? What's going on?" Melissa asked frightened.

"How long have you been able to teleport for, Melissa?"

"Teleport? I don't know what you're talking about. How do you know my name?" she asked becoming even more terrified.

"We've been watching you for a little while now, Melissa," the man responded, not seeming to care what Melissa was feeling. "The first we noticed was last week when you disappeared from the park you had been running in. We weren't sure how you'd disappeared at the time. Was it invisibility? An illusion? Did you just run faster than the eye could see? We didn't know. But after studying you we've been able to determine that it's teleportation. So, how long have you been able to teleport?"

"I don't know what you're talking about!" she shouted. "I don't even know how I ended up at my dad's house. Somebody was trying to kidnap me! I was scared and crying and the next thing I knew I was at my dad's house! Please, just let me go home!" Melissa sobbed.

"So you don't know how your ability works?" the man asked a little shocked. "I guess were going to have to do some more experiments and find out."

"Please don't! Just let me go home!" But at that very moment the man, the room, the table she was laying on, it all disappeared.

_**Melissa Dalton –Anaheim, California**_

She found herself laying on her father's living room floor in Anaheim again. She stood up and looked around the apartment for her dad, but couldn't find him. It was about 3:00 in the afternoon. _He must still be at work_ she thought. So she made sure the doors were locked and waited in the apartment for him to get home.

At about 5:30 she began to get a little worried. Her dad always used to be home from work just a few minutes after 5:00. She picked up the phone and dialed his work number. When the receptionist answered the phone she asked for her father. "Robert hasn't been to work for the past two days," the receptionist told Melissa.

"Two days?" Melissa asked shocked. "My dad never misses work, though!"

"We thought it was strange, too," the receptionist replied. "We've tried getting a hold of him to see what's going on, but haven't been able to. We've tried getting a hold of you as well to see if you knew anything, but you hadn't been home for the past couple days either. The police figured the two of you must have gone on a trip somewhere together."

Melissa hung the phone up and was about to dial 911 when she heard the door open. She put the phone down and called out, "Dad?"

"No, not your dad," came the reply of a voice she didn't recognize. "But if you want to see your dad again you'll come with me."

"Who are you? What happened to my dad?" Melissa asked as the man walked towards her.

"My names Eric," he said, and she could now see that he was actually a couple years younger than her. "I work for the company that's holding your dad, the same company that was holding you until just a few hours ago."

"What? You work for the company that's holding my dad? You guys kidnapped me and my dad." She picked up the phone to call 911 again.

"Wait!" Eric shouted. "If you do that you're putting your dad's life in danger." She stopped and looked at him. "We don't want to hurt you or him," Eric continued. "The company just wants to run some tests and understand how your ability works. Help you to understand yourself." He took another couple steps towards her.

"No thanks," Melissa replied as Eric came closer to her. "I think I understand it a bit better already." And with that she disappeared again, when Eric was only an arm's length away.

Melissa didn't teleport far, though, this time. She was just outside her dad's apartment at the payphone in front of the building. She grabbed the phone and dialed 911 looking up at her father's apartment seven stories up. "There's a man in my father's apartment," Melissa spoke when the dispatcher answered. "He tried to kidnap me, and I believe he kidnapped my father." She gave them her father's address and the dispatcher informed her that there was a unit patrolling close by that should be there within minutes.

_**Eric Thompson **_

Eric stood in Robert Dalton's apartment frustrated at himself. He pulled out his cell phone and dialed a phone number on it. "I screwed up, dad!" he said.

"She wasn't at the apartment?" the man on the other line asked.

"No, Noah was right. She was here."

"What happened then?"

"She teleported just before I reached her."

"You must have frightened her, Eric. Noah told you that if she was scared it would trigger her ability. Why didn't you gain her trust?" the other man asked sounding frustrated with his son.

"I tried to," Eric responded. "She was about to call the police and I told her that she would be putting her dad in danger. I told her that we weren't going to hurt her, but help her understand how her ability worked better. Then she said that she understood enough herself and just disappeared right before I reached her." At that moment Eric heard sirens and walked over to the window.

"Don't worry, Eric," the older man said. "Noah got the isotope in her. We'll be able to find her again."

"That's not what I'm worried about right now," Eric replied. "Police are coming in the building right now. She must have tipped them off. I need to get out of here."

"That's not such bad news," the other man answered. "Get out of there. When she finds out that you escaped she'll be worried for her father. The police won't be able to do anything to help her. You'll find her again and lead her to us. She'll take the bait because she'll want to save her father." Eric didn't answer. He'd already hung up the phone and was finding a way out of the building.


	12. Chapter 12

_**James Ashton – Uinta Mountains, Utah**_

James slowly regained consciousness, realizing that he was lying on his back and someone was shaking his shoulder asking him if he was okay. He opened his eyes and saw a man a few years younger than him with dark brown shoulder length hair kneeling over him. "I'm fine," James said sitting up. He had a terrible headache and as he sat up noticed that his newly made bow was broken underneath him. "Not again," James moaned looking down at his bow.

"Are you sure you're okay?" the younger man asked. "You're half naked and didn't respond while I shook you and asked if you were okay for about 15 minutes. Let me help you back to the highway at least, its a few days away."

"No, that's okay. I'll be fine," James replied.

"Are you sure?"

"Do you have some food? I'm starving."

David reached into a bag and pulled out a couple power bars. "This is about all I can spare. I need the rest so that I have enough food to get back to the parking lot myself."

"Thanks, kid. It's enough. Look, just don't tell anybody that you came across me, okay."

"Why?"

"I've been living out here on my own for awhile and prefer to be alone and just don't want anyone knowing I'm out here, okay."

"Okay, whatever," David replied. "I'd better start heading back now, so good luck."

"Thanks." James watched as David started walking away. After a few minutes he turned the other direction and tried to put enough distance as possible between him and the place this guy had found him. He was pretty frustrated. He had just relocated and found a new place to live and had just barely made a new bow and had not even used it, and now his bow was broken and he had to find a new place to live.

_**Melissa Dalton – Los Angeles, California**_

Melissa was really upset with herself and really worried about her dad. The police hadn't found Eric in her father's apartment and it didn't have any leads as to where her father could be. She hoped that he was okay and that the company Eric worked for hadn't done anything to him. She was back at his apartment because she figured it was the most likely place Eric would look for her again.

Sure enough the door opened and Eric came walking in. "Your dad is okay, Melissa. We don't want to hurt either of you, but I assure you that you won't see your dad again until you cooperate with us," Eric said as he cautiously walked into the apartment.

"What do you want with me?" Melissa asked. "Why did you kidnap me, and why did you get my father involved?"

"We just want to help you, both of you, to understand your abilities and…"

"Both of us? My dad has an ability, too?"

"Yes, both of you," Eric answered. "We want to help you understand your abilities and we want to understand them, too."

"Who are you? Your company, I mean, and how can you help us understand our abilities?" Melissa asked.

"We find special people like you, people with abilities," Eric replied. "And we do some experiments…"

"Experiments? What kind of experiments? You don't cut us up do you?"

"No, no, nothing like that," Eric quickly interjected. "We see what you can do with your abilities. We take a blood test, a DNA sample, use an MRI, things like that."

"Where is my dad?" Melissa asked.

"He's in Texas, which is where I hope you'll accompany me. Normally, we would take a plane, but I think you could get us there faster, right?"

"How? I don't really know how this teleporting thing works. I've only teleported to places I've been."

"Have you ever been to Texas? Or anywhere close to Texas?" Eric asked. "It would at least save us some time if we were even close to Texas."

"I've been to the Dallas Fort Worth Airport during a layover once, but I've only ever teleported when I was scared. I don't know how to do it."

"Try concentrating on a place you can remember in the airport and think about making yourself go there. Maybe a bathroom so that everybody doesn't notice you appearing out of nowhere."

Melissa concentrated on making herself appear in the bathroom at the airport she had been to once. Everything went black for a split second and then she was in a bathroom stall by herself. She was pleased with herself that she did it, but realized that Eric wasn't there. She concentrated on the image of her father's apartment and in another split second was back there with Eric. "It worked! I did it!" Melissa exclaimed.

"Great! Now grab my hand and concentrate on making us both go there," Eric said. Melissa grabbed his hand and concentrated. They were back in the bathroom stall. "You did that on purpose, didn't you?" Eric accused as Melissa turned around with a smirk on her face to see him standing inside the toilet. "We'd better get out of here," Eric said, stepping out of the toilet. Eric reached into his pocket and opened his cell phone as they walked out of the women's bathroom attracting a lot of stares.


End file.
